Alessandro Gozzi and his research team based at CNCS – IIT in Rovereto awarded by the Brain & Behaviour Research Foundation to study how imbalances in regional excitatory and inhibitory functions may lead to abnormal communication between brain regions in schizophrenia or autism.
Alessandro Gozzi, researcher at Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems of Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (CNCS – IIT, Rovereto, Italy), was awarded by the prestigoius Brain & Behaviour Research Foundation (New York, USA) with a NARSAD Independent Investigator Grant: 100.000 euros for two years.
This grant will allow Gozzi and his team to carry out their research on autism and schizophrenia. The team will study how imbalances in regional excitatory and inhibitory functions may lead to abnormal communication between brain regions in brain affected by schizophrenia or autism. IIT researchers will genetically alter inhibitory and excitatory cells in the mouse brain, and measure the ensuing brainwide network activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to detect any connectivity alterations.
This year the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, the top non-governmental funder of mental health research grants, overall awarded $3.9 million in funding to 40 mid-career scientists from 36 institutions in 10 countries for basic research, new technologies, early intervention/diagnostic tools, and next-generation therapies for schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, autism, PTSD, and other serious mental illnesses.
Every year, applications are reviewed by members of the Foundation’s Scientific Council, which is comprised of 150 leading experts across disciplines in brain and behavior research who volunteer their time to select the most promising research ideas to fund. The Foundation support only the most innovative ideas in neuroscience and psychiatry to better understand the causes and develop new ways to treat brain and behavior disorders.
For further readings:
https://bbrfoundation.org/2017-narsad-independent-investigator-grantees
